Before dawn on Thursday, Russia fired 31 ballistic and cruise missiles toward Kyiv. This comes following a 44-day break in attacks on the capital city.
While Ukrainian air defenses successfully shot down all of the incoming missiles, the damage was largely caused by falling debris. At least thirteen people, including a child, were reported injured in the attack. According to Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Administration, the missiles reached Kyiv at around 5 am on Thursday morning. Ukraine’s air force has stated that Russia launched two ballistic missiles and 29 cruise missiles at Kyiv. The city of Kyiv has higher quality air defenses relative to other parts of Ukraine, thus making the missile inception rate higher. This ultimately renders Russian attacks on Kyiv less successful as compared to the beginning of the war. Ukraine’s Emergency Service stated 80 people were evacuated from their homes. This attack comes as a response to Ukraine’s recent aerial attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to respond to the recent Ukrainian attacks by responding “in kind”. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western allies to continuously send more air defense systems to Ukraine to better defend against these missile strikes.
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https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-missiles-384e883b85c1e0689a3165830ca440c9
